Digitally Naive to Digital Natives: Changes in the Social Media Landscape from the Perspective of Women in New Zealand
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Digitally Naive to Digital Natives: Changes in the Social Media Landscape from the Perspective of Women in New Zealand Riddhi Shriyan School of Communications Studies Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies A thesis submitted to Auckland University of Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Communication Studies (MCS) 2020 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................................... 2 LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................ 4 ATTESTATION OF AUTHORSHIP ......................................................................................................... 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................................... 6 ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 10 1 OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH ............................................................................................................................... 10 1.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................... 10 1.2 THE ORIGINS OF RESEARCH: MY VIEWPOINT ........................................................................................................ 10 1.3 RATIONALE FOR THE RESEARCH AND THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS .............................................................................. 13 1.4 ORGANISATION OF THE THESIS ........................................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................................................. 16 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 16 2 OVERVIEW OF THE INTERNET ................................................................................................................................ 16 2.1 SOCIAL MEDIA: BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................... 18 2.2 RISE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS PURPOSE............................................................................................................. 23 2.3 ADVANTAGES .................................................................................................................................................. 25 2.4 DISADVANTAGES ............................................................................................................................................. 26 2.5 WOMEN ON SOCIAL MEDIA .............................................................................................................................. 28 2.6 POSITIVE & NEGATIVE WAYS WOMEN USE SOCIAL MEDIA + INFLUENCERS ................................................................. 29 2.7 SOCIAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL IDENTITY .................................................................................................................. 31 2.8 ABOUT INSTAGRAM ......................................................................................................................................... 33 2.9 INSTAGRAM’S TIMELINE OF GROWTH AND KEY MILESTONES ................................................................................... 33 2.10 GROWTH OF FEATURES FOR MARKETERS AND ADVERTISERS .................................................................................. 34 2.11 GENDER INEQUALITY, WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND AGENCY .............................................................................. 35 2.12 ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND GENDER EQUALITY.......................................................... 37 2.13 INSTAGRAM FOR BUSINESS OR A PROFESSIONAL .................................................................................................. 39 2.14 SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE BY GLOBAL ICONS AND PUBLIC FIGURES .............................................................................. 40 2.15 SOCIAL STIGMA AND ATTITUDES ....................................................................................................................... 41 2.16 THE REALITIES OF SOCIAL CURRENCY IN SOCIAL MEDIA ........................................................................................ 41 2.17 SEEKING DESIRABILITY AND VALIDATION FROM AN ONLINE AUDIENCE ..................................................................... 42 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................... 44 3 INTRODUCTION: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................ 44 3.1 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ................................................................................................................................... 44 3.2 SIGNIFICANCE TO THIS RESEARCH ........................................................................................................................ 47 3.3 CONSIDERATIONS FOR ALTERNATIVE METHODS ...................................................................................................... 49 3.4 REASONING FOR THE SELECTION OF IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS ...................................................................................... 49 2 3.6 OVERVIEW OF PARTICIPANTS OF THE STUDY ......................................................................................................... 53 3.7 SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................................... 55 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS .............................................................................................................................. 56 4 INTRODUCTION: ................................................................................................................................................. 56 4.1 FINDINGS ....................................................................................................................................................... 58 4.2 SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................................... 70 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................................. 71 5.3 KEY THEMES ................................................................................................................................................... 71 5.4 CONSCIOUSNESS OF CONTENT............................................................................................................................ 71 5.5 CONSUMPTION OF INFORMATION ....................................................................................................................... 74 5.6 PURPOSE-DRIVEN UTILISATION OF PLATFORMS ..................................................................................................... 76 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 78 6 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................. 78 6.1 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................................. 78 6.2 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH .......................................................................................................................... 80 6.3 SCOPE FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ........................................................................................................................... 81 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................ 83 3 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Six Step Process for Conducting Thematic Analysis …......................................... 12 Figure 2: Instagram: The dog that launched a social media giant ……………...................... 38 Figure 3: Previews from Kevin Systrom’s Instagram Feed ................................................. 39 Figure 4: Authenticity Matters Most to Millennials Stackla Report 2017 ......................... 70 Figure 5: Social Media Sites as Pathways to News ……...................................................... 72 4 ATTESTATION OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person (except where explicitly defined in the acknowledgements), nor material which to a substantial extent has been submitted for the award of any other degree or diploma of a university or other institution of higher learning. Signed: Riddhi Jayant Shriyan Date: